Summits On The Air

Taupiri Mountain

A break in the winters weather gave us a chance to get out and discover a new hill to climb. With so much rain lately we havent been out much, however today was a beautiful day, with no wind and clear skies to ascend Taupiri. You will not find tracks up Taupiri on the Linz maps, or DoC website, but there is a public track to the summit.

There are none of the usual track markers but it is fairly well defined although do watch where the tracks branch on the way down it is easy to pick the wrong branch as we almost did. There is a picnic table at the top and the trig makes a great antenna support. Views are good into Huntly, Hamilton and surrounding ranges. We could even see Ruapehu (ZL1/MW-001) and Ngauruhoe (ZL1/MW-002) from the top.

The bands werent flash, as they havent been lately, but we managed to make 7 contacts with ZL and VK including a Summit to summit with Andrew ZL3CC on ZL3/CB-737. Thanks Andrew.

Details

Summit – ZL1/WK-176 – Taupiri

Height –288 m

Access – From SH1 Huntly, after the cemetery on the left across the railway lines just before the bridge that takes you into Ngaruawahia. From the south do not attempt to make a right hand turn – head north and turn either from the layby opposite the cemetery or head up to Huntly to turn around. Park up near the rail line and walk up the 4wd track between the cemetery plots. On the left you should see the archway that marks the start of the track.

Nominal time to summit – 60 minute walk to summit.

Mobile and internet coverage from the summit – Good coverage on all networks.